


Blooming Love

by EssayOfThoughts



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gentle Romance, Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-19 21:51:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13132941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EssayOfThoughts/pseuds/EssayOfThoughts
Summary: Alana is one of the few who took the time and patience and care to be Will's friend in truth rather than just in name, or becoming so by way of being a colleague. Alana took the time to learn who he was as a person, when he wasn't being called to listen in to a murder case and mimic the murderer's mindset.Alana, simply,was a friend,when so many others would have got their foot in the door and simply started taking notes.





	Blooming Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SecondStarOnTheLeft](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecondStarOnTheLeft/gifts).



> A Christmas present fic for Niamh/SecondStarOnTheLeft. I hope you like it!
> 
> Also, please don't kill me for the pun of a title.

Kissing Alana is soft and gentle and Will would very much like for it not to stop.

Interestingly, Alana seems to think likewise.

 

* * *

 

"This is unwise," Alana says, but Will, ever aware, can see that is not exactly what she means.

"I mean," he says. "If you want it to stop-"

There is something bright and warm in Alana's eyes as she says, "That's not exactly what I meant."

 

* * *

 

What she meant was: she was still a psychiatrist. She was still going to be always-and-ever aware of his mental state and mental problems, his mental uniqueness, and she, like so few others, had the morals that meant she didn't want to use that against him, or hold it over him, or use this as an opportunity to  _study_ him as so many others might.

"I trust you," Will says, after they've had several days of on-and-off kissing in quiet corners. "You know that Alana."

And Alana knows, without a doubt, that trust from Will Graham of all people, is not easily given.

 

* * *

 

Alana is one of the few who took the time and patience and care to be Will's friend in truth rather than just in name, or becoming so by way of being a colleague. Alana took the time to learn who he was as a person, when he wasn't being called to listen in to a murder case and mimic the murderer's mindset.

Alana, simply,  _was a friend,_ when so many others would have got their foot in the door and simply started taking notes.

If Alana has been making notes on him, writing his profile up, Will has never seen any sign of it.

 

* * *

 

"So you trust her," Hannibal says in his own particular way. He has a pencil between his fingertips, half dangled over a sheet of paper on the low table beside him, but he's not writing anything, nor drawing. Just dangling the pencil there, swinging it gently back and forth.

"Yes," Will says. "She is... easy to be around. She always has been."

Hannibal smiles. "She is that," he says. "One of so few who know their own minds, and what they consider to be acceptable limits, and then-" he looks towards the window, the fuzzy outline of outside beyond. "Abiding by those decisions. So many others would bend the rules."

"But not Alana," Will says.

Hannibal's gaze - blue yes, until the light flashes them maroon - fixes on him, and he nods. "But not Alana."

 

* * *

 

Will shivers as they walk the dogs that morning. "Something feels off," he says, rubbing his hands together. "It has for a while but..."

Alana's face is concerned, but not doubting. She knows as well as any that while Will may step into the dark to drag it screaming to the light, he can spot the dark from a mile off as well.

"With the cases?" she asks.

Will shakes his head, rubs his gloved hands together. "With  _Hannibal."_

 

* * *

 

It's an off-ness that Alana has never noticed before. After all, Hannibal is simply Hannibal, charming and kind, polite with a razor-sharp wit and an anecdote for every occasion. Hannibal is... Hannibal, a carefully curated creature.

Now that Will has warned her, now that she lets herself listen, knowing how Will makes himself stable in his moments of peace and his moments with her, she starts to see it too.

Carefully curated tastes and interests, yes. 

Carefully  _constructed_ in other regards.

 

* * *

 

"I see what you mean," she says softly over dinner. It's a fish Will caught and cooked and the dogs are sat in their beds, eyes fixed on them at the table, salivating. 

Will reaches down, passes Winston a piece of skin. 

"So," he says, leaning back, chewing a mouthful of fish and swallowing. "What do you think we should do?"

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments!


End file.
